Adam Magaña

There's a lot of science underlying this stuff. Unfortunately for the nature of your question, most of that material exists in the realm of psychology and perception.

Very true. I suggested he set up some mouse traps upstairs in his house as a start. I think I'm going by this evening to inspect it for myself.

It happens to all of us, and we must train ourselves to be more rational about what's really happening (changing temperatures cause the house to shift and creak, air conditioning vents cause towels to move, or static electricity pulled it toward us). These perceptions and false conclusions tend to be made worse when our perception gets altered by smoking cannabis or ingesting other psychotropic drugs.

I thought of a few of these possible explanations initially. Like I said, I've been very skeptical with him but I wanted to be reasonably skeptical. I needed some more background in the area. Which is why I felt compelled to do my research/homework and see if there have been any actual scientific accounts of paranormal activity. I didn't want to assume what I was talking about was just plainly correct. Just trying to be a scientist!

Please keep the comments coming! I'd still like to know if anyone has seen or heard of anything observing the paranormal that is at least moderately scientific.

What kind of paranormal activity is he experiencing exactly? That term does cover a lot of space...

In his words (not my own):

• His roommate was shaving in the bathroom and the towel supposedly came off the rack and "flew and hit him in the butt."
• He hears footsteps upstairs when he's downstairs.
• When he was leaving his house through the door by the kitchen the chandelier above the kitchen table began aggressively swinging. He tried recreating it by opening and closing the door (to simulate a kind of draft or wind) and the chandelier didn't flinch. I actually witnessed him trying to recreate this. The chandelier did indeed not move when he opened and closed the same door at varying speeds.
• He had his high-speed internet installed recently and without mentioning anything hes been experiencing the technician said the previous tenants told him they couldn't sleep upstairs because they heard footsteps up there and didn't feel comfortable in the house.

Again, I'm extremely skeptical of all of these items. My coworker is a dear friend I've known for a long time and for the most part I trust his judgement but I don't believe his accounts.

"So my question is this: are there any good, reliable scientific studies into the paranormal?"

Yes

"And if so, what were their conclusions? "

If the science found any truth in those stories the phenomena would be "normal" not "paranormal".

(also someone would have collected a million from the James Randi Foundation.

http://www.randi.org...-challenge.html

Interesting read. Not a single preliminary test has been passed even though applicants are encouraged to design their own test. Kind of a bummer actually, I was hoping at least one person would lead me down a paranormal rabbit hole. That would be way more exciting.

Hello, everyone! I'm new so bare with me if this is a repeated topic or in the wrong place

A coworker of mine swears he is experiencing "paranormal activity" in his new home. I'm skeptical to say the least. However, I don't want to bludgeon him with my skepticism every time he talks with me about it. I want to be reasonably skeptical but also maintain a good scientific mindset about it. So my question is this: are there any good, reliable scientific studies into the paranormal? And if so, what were their conclusions? I did some Googling and found mostly non-scientific results and mumbo-jumbo. I'd like to get a good scientific basis on the topic so I don't feel ignorant and overzealous in my initial skepticism. Thanks for the help!

Hello, everyone! My name is Adam. Just joined because I've always been a sucker for science and never even considered joining a forum. Currently I have the following question on my mind:

A coworker of mine swears he is experiencing "paranormal activity" in his new home. I'm skeptical to say the least. However, I don't want to bludgeon him with my skepticism every time he talks with me about it. I want to be reasonably skeptical but also maintain a good scientific mindset about it. So my question is this: are there any good, reliable scientific studies into the paranormal? And if so, what were their conclusions? I did some Googling and found mostly non-scientific results and mumbo-jumbo. I'd like to get a good scientific basis on the topic so I don't feel ignorant and overzealous in my initial skepticism. Thanks for the help!